Joel Shapiro

Joel Shapiro
Joel Elias Shapiro (born September 27, 1941 New York City, New York) is an American sculptor renowned for his dynamic work composed of simple rectangular shapes. The artist is classified as a Minimalist as demonstrated in his works, which were mostly defined through the materials used, without allusions to subjects outside of the works. He lives and works in New York City. He is married to the artist Ellen Phelan.
Early life and education
Joel Shapiro grew up in Sunnyside, Queens, New York. He graduated from Bayside High School (Bayside, NY) in 1959, at which time the school’s yearbook awarded him the title of Man About Town. When he was twenty two he lived in India for two years while in the Peace Corps. He received a B.A. in 1964 and an M.A. in 1969 from New York University
Work and inspiration
While serving his Peace Corp time in India, Shapiro saw many Indian art works, and has said that "India gave me the sense of … the possibility of being an artist." In India "Art was pervasive and integral to the society", and he has said that "the struggle in my work to find a structure that reflects real psychological states may well use Indian sculpture as a model." His early work, which also drew inspiration from Greek art, is characterized by some by its small size, but Shapiro has discounted this perception, describing his early works as, "all about scale and the small size was an aspect of their scale". He described scale as "A very active thing that's changing and altering as time unfolds, consciously or unconsciously," and, "a relationship of size and an experience. You can have something small that has big scale." In these works he said that he was trying "to describe an emotional state, my own longing or desire". He also said that during this early period in his career he was interested in the strategies of artists Robert Morris, Richard Serra, Carl Andre, and Donald Judd.
By the 1980s, Shapiro began to explore larger and life-size forms in pieces that were still reminiscent of Indian and Greek sculpture but also inspired by the early modernist works by Edgar Degas and Constantin Brâncusi. The bulk of these pieces have been commissioned or acquired by museums and galleries. Later, Shapiro further expanded his repertoire by creating pieces that depicted the dynamism of human form. For instance, his subjects were portrayed in the act of dancing, crouching, and falling, among others that explored the themes of balance, cantilever, projection, and compression. His later works can have the appearance of flying, being impossibly suspended in space, and/or defying gravity. He has said about this shift in his work that he "wanted to make work that stood on its own, and wasn't limited by architecture and by the ground and the wall and right angles." These can be demonstrated in the case of the large-size outdoor art he made for the Hood Museum of Art. The bronze piece was an attenuated form that leans over a walkway and its near-falling form is viewed as an energizing element in the museum's courtyard. This sculpture, like all of Shapiro's mature works, are untitled.
Shapiro is Jewish and Jewish traditions have influenced his art works, including his frequent use of the color blue.
Works in collections
United States
California
Untitled, 1978, San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla
Untitled, 1974, Gersh, Philip & Beatrice, Los Angeles
Untitled, 1988, Gersh, Philip & Beatrice, Los Angeles
Untitled, 1981, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Untitled, 1979, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Untitled, 1982, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Untitled, 1975, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Untitled, 1988, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco
Untitled, 1982-1985, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
District of Columbia
Untitled, 1989, National Gallery of Art, Washington
Untitled, 1974, National Gallery of Art, Washington
Untitled, 1975, National Gallery of Art, Washington
Untitled, 1975, National Gallery of Art, Washington
Untitled, 1983, National Gallery of Art, Washington
Untitled, 1986, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington
Loss and Regeneration, 1993, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington
Blue, 2019, Video Wall Lawn of the REACH at the Kennedy Center, Washington
Florida
Untitled, 1996, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton
Untitled, 1988, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton
Up/Over, 2007, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach
Illinois
Untitled, 1984, Elliott, Gerald S., Chicago
Untitled (Arching Figure), 1985, Elliott, Gerald S., Chicago
Untitled (for G.S.E.), 1987, Elliott, Gerald S., Chicago
Untitled, 1981, Governors State University, University Park
Indiana
Untitled, 1984, David Owsley Museum of Art, Indiana
Iowa
Untitled, 2003, Principal Riverwalk, Des Moines
Untitled, 1985, Pappajohn Sculpture Park, Des Moines
Maine
Untitled, 1984, Colby College, Museum of Art, Waterville
Maryland
Untitled, 1985, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore
Untitled, 1970, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore
Massachusetts
Untitled, 1990, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge
Michigan
Untitled, 1975, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit
Untitled, 1985, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit
Minnesota
Untitled, 1975, Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia), Minneapolis
Missouri
Untitled, 1984, St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis
Untitled, 1991, Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City
Nebraska
Untitled, 1984, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Garden,
New York
Seven Elements, 2001–2003, Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany
Untitled, 1988, Museum of Modern Art, NYC
Untitled, 1988, Museum of Modern Art, NYC
Untitled (house on shelf), 1974, Museum of Modern Art, NYC
Untitled, 1994, Sony Plaza, NYC - Donated by Sony Corporation of America to Storm King Art Center on April 19, 2016
Untitled (House on Field), 1976, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC
Untitled, 1978, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC
Untitled, 1981, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC
Untitled, 2000, Rockefeller University, New York
Untitled, 2004–2005, Albany Academy for Girls, Albany, NY
North Carolina
Untitled, 1990, North Carolina Museum of Art
Untitled, 1995, Davidson College, Van Every/ Smith Galleries
Ohio
Untitled, University of Cincinnati Galleries, Ohio
Untitled, 1977, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio
Untitled, 1989, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Pennsylvania
Untitled maquette, 1984, CIGNA Museum and Art Collection, Philadelphia
Untitled, 1984, CIGNA Museum and Art Collection, Philadelphia
Texas
Untitled, 1975, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas
Untitled, 1975, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas
Untitled, 1984, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas
Untitled, 1985–87, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas
Untitled, 1986, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas
Untitled, 1986, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas
Untitled, 1996–99, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas
Untitled, 1977, Fort Worth Art Museum, Fort Worth
Untitled, 1977, Fort Worth Art Museum, Fort Worth
Untitled, 1990, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Untitled, 2000, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio
"Elements", 2004-2005, Northpark Center, Dallas, Texas
Untitled, 2011, Rice University Art Gallery, Houston
Untitled, 2019, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas
Washington
Untitled, 1980–81, Western Washington University Public Sculpture Collection, Bellingham, Washington
Untitled, 1980–81, Restricted Owner, Seattle, Washington
Untitled, 1990, Seattle University campus
Wisconsin
Untitled, 1987, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
International collections
Australia
Untitled (chair), 1974, Australian National Gallery, Canberra
Canada
Conjunction, 1999, Embassy of the United States of America, Ottawa
Denmark
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek
Note: Joel Shapiro's sculpture name is unknown in the Denmark section, so the name of the sculpture isn't there.
Germany
Untitled, 1999, Köln Skulpture Park, Cologne
Israel
Untitled, 1991, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv
Untitled, 1996, Billy Rose Art Garden, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Italy
Untitled, 1993, Peggy Guggenheim collection, Venice
Netherlands
Untitled, 1999, Beeldenroute Westersingel, Rotterdam
Sweden
Untitled, 1979, Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Untitled, 1982, Moderna Museet, Stockholm
United Kingdom
Untitled, 1978, Tate Gallery, London
Untitled, 1984, Tate Gallery, London
References
Untitled, Joel Shapiro, Getty Museum Website,
Untitled, Joel Shapiro, Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation
Further reading
Marshall, Richard and Smith, Robert. (1982) Joel Shapiro. Whitney Museum of American Art.
Institute Research Information System - Joel Shapiro
H. Teicher: Joel Shapiro. Sculpture and drawings. New York, 1998
"Notable Former Volunteers / Arts and Literature". Peace Corps official site. Accessed 5 January 2007.
External links
The Pace Gallery
Shapiro biography and images at L.A. Louver gallery
Interview with the Brooklyn Rail from November 2007
Public Art Fund: Joel Shapiro
Interview in Portland
Joel Shapiro in conversation with Marla Prather. https://vimeo.com/12436010 May 2010.
American printmakers
Jewish American artists
Living people
1941 births
Sculptors from New York City
Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development alumni
Sculptors from New York (state)
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts
Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters